Card shufflers are used to randomize an order of cards in a stack of cards, and are frequently used in the gaming industry for use with playing cards, such as decks of standard playing cards which include four suits (i.e., clubs, diamond, hearts, and spades) of cards, wherein each suit includes a group of thirteen (13) differently ranked cards sequentially numbered from two (2) through ten (10), as well as a Jack, a Queen, a King, and an Ace. Such a standard deck of playing cards may also include one or more additional cards, such as two additional Jokers. Thus, a complete deck may comprise, for example, fifty-two (52) or fifty-four (54) playing cards.
Card shufflers are known in the art that, in addition to shuffling cards, may be used to sort cards into a predetermined order, such as what is referred to in the art as “new deck” order. To accomplish such a sorting operation, a card shuffler must be capable of accurately identifying indicia on each card, such as the rank and suit of standard playing cards. Card shufflers capable of sorting cards often include a card imaging system, which may include a camera that acquires an image of each card. An algorithm may be used to analyze the image and compare the image to images of cards of known identity. By determining to which known image the acquired image most closely corresponds, the identity of each card may be determined and used by the card shuffler to sort cards into a predetermined order.
Many previously known card shufflers are not capable of truly randomizing an order of the cards in any given set of cards due to limitations in the mechanism or system used to shuffle the cards. Thus, there remains a need in the art for card shufflers that are capable of truly randomizing an order of cards in a set of cards to a sufficient degree to be considered random in the shuffler arts. Additionally, it may be desirable to shuffle and/or sort cards using a card shuffler quickly so as to increase the amount of shuffling and/or sorting operations that may be performed by a card shuffler in any given amount of time.
The ACE® card shuffler, offered by Shuffle Master, Inc. of Las Vegas, Nev. in the past, and as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,149,154, is a batch-type card shuffler with a vertically moving rack comprising multiple compartments. This structure lacks card recognition. Shuffling is accomplished through random loading of the racks. Packs of cards are formed in compartments. The order in which the cards are delivered to hand-forming compartments is substantially random. However, the composition of the pack is random. Cards placed in the discard rack are not randomly ordered. More than two cards are delivered to each compartment.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,267,248 describes a carousel-type card shuffler that uses a card imaging system to identify cards as they move from a card infeed tray to compartments in a rotatable carousel. The card shuffler randomly loads compartments in the carousel, and sequentially unloads the compartments. More than two cards may be delivered to each compartment. U.S. Pat. No. 6,651,981 describes a flush-mounted batch card shuffler that elevates shuffled cards to the game play surface. U.S. Pat. No. 7,677,565 describes a similar card shuffler that also includes card recognition capability. These card shufflers form a single stack of a shuffled deck or multiple decks. The stack formed in the shuffler is gripped at randomly selected elevations. A section of the stack of cards beneath the grippers is lowered, which creates an insertion opening into the stack into which additional cards may be inserted to shuffle the cards. Products as described in these patents have been commercialized by Shuffle Master, Inc. as DECK MAIL® and MD2® and MD3™ card shufflers.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,766,332 describes a hand-forming card shuffler that includes card recognition capability. The device described in this patent has been commercialized by Shuffle Master, Inc. as the I-DEAL® card shuffler.